GUYNEMER BEING DECORATED WITH THE ROSETTE OF THE LEGION OF HONOR
Guynemer (in dark uniform) has just received the Rosette
Guynemer’s fifth citation rewarded him for this exploit, and declared him a hunting pilot with audacity and energy for any adventure.
According to Guynemer’s own testimony, one of the most difficult things an airman of the Allies has to do is to compel the Boche to accept a duel, not that the latter lacks courage, but rather that he prefers not to run the risk of being brought down. As a result of forcing engagements, Guynemer seldom returned from a flight without a wound of some sort or other. On several occasions his garments were drilled with holes, his clothing more than once taking on the appearance of a sieve. This was the youth who in less than eight months from the downing of his fifth Boche had been awarded seven palms for his war cross.
Guynemer and His Parents
Like Nungesser, Dormé (dor-may) and Triboulet (trib-oo-lay), Guynemer would not rest when he had left the hospital convalescent from some of his more serious wounds, and it is by signs like these that we find the souls of great heroes who know nothing about “vacations,” even for their health, so long as others are fighting. Guynemer was not strong and should have rested after his stay in the hospital. His parents begged him to rest, so Guynemer compromised by agreeing to establish himself near his family at Compiègne (kom-pee-ane), where at the same time he could serve France. Not far from his paternal home, at Vauciennes (vo-see-enn), his Baby Nieuport rested in a hangar, ready to carry him into those great open spaces to search for the enemy whenever the atmosphere permitted.
GUYNEMER READY FOR FLIGHT
One of the hero’s sisters was entrusted with the task of studying the atmosphere at dawn each day to see if it were “Boche weather.” And as soon as it was light enough, slyly, like a boy planning mischief against the orders of his elders, the Second Lieutenant Ace came down from his room and mounted his Nieuport for a prospective fray.